Japanese workers are facing a threat of literal death from working too hard. In 1978, karōshi, defined as death or severe disability from overwork, was added to the Japanese dictionary. Japan is recognized as having one of the worst working conditions in the developed world with awfully long working hours. This thesis deconstructs the underlying psychological, cultural and economic reasons that contribute to the long working hours in Japanese companies. Then, this thesis examines the previous and current efforts by the Japanese, South Korean and German governments to reduce working hours in their countries to prevent the fatal consequences of overwork. It concludes by recommending the Japanese government to continue the research on overtime and death, raise awareness through education and outreach, enforce strict labor laws, and to adopt a method of flexible working hours.

The purpose of the research study was to describe the general South African public’s perception of the image of nurses. The general public’s perception of nurses in South Africa and globally is seen as one of the main reasons for the current shortage of nurses, as the profession is generally portrayed extremely negatively in the open press. The picture painted reveals long working hours, poor pay and negligence resulting from poor performance and support as the essence of the nursing profession. The public is bombarded with images of nurses’ strikes and poor patient outcomes. Positive feedback is rare and seldom contributes to changing public perceptions of nurses. Studies on the public perceptions of nurses have been carried out in various countries, but published studies on the South African situation could not be found. This study aimed to determine and describe the general South African public’s perception of nurses and the results will be used to make recommendations that could improve the image of nurses and encourage more respect for the profession as a whole. A quantitative non-experimental and descriptive design was used to gain more information about the South African public’s perception of the image of nurses. A questionnaire was used to gather the data, which consist of biographical data and responses to 19 statements regarding nurses and the profession. The objectives of the study were formulated from the research question as follows: 1) to determine the general public’s perception of nurses; and 2) to formulate recommendations, based on the research results, for enhancing nurses’ public image. The population of the research comprised the 1 000 respondents to whom the questionnaires were distributed. Of these, 776 questionnaires were returned. The questionnaires were distributed in five provinces of South Africa, namely Gauteng, the Western Cape, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Accordingly, the objectives of the research were achieved, as the general South African public’s perception of the image of nurses was determined and described. In addition, recommendations for improving the current image of nurses were made. The findings of this study were predominantly positive and shed some light on the reasons for the current declining numbers of new registrations at the South African Nursing Council. The respondents, however, indicated that only 43.6% want their children to become nurses and that nursing is still viewed as a predominantly female profession. The public viewed nurses as extremely hardworking (80.03%), caring and understanding (78.2%) and supported the statement that “nurses treat their work as a profession in its own right, not secondary to a doctor’s” (73,8%). In view of the findings, the recommendations included the importance of improving the image of nurses among school children and improving recruitment strategies. It is also recommended that nurses in the profession should be made aware of the important role they play in changing their image and in re-branding the profession as a knowledge-based career for all genders and age groups. Consequently, this should be emphasised in training programmes and should be the focus of future South African campaigns. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

Submitted by Bruna Padilha de Oliveira null (brunapad@hotmail.com) on 2017-10-10T18:28:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação final com ficha cat.pdf: 2172999 bytes, checksum: 381a1335d5939064077dc11e2843276f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-10-11T18:08:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_bp_me_rcla.pdf: 2172999 bytes, checksum: 381a1335d5939064077dc11e2843276f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-11T18:08:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_bp_me_rcla.pdf: 2172999 bytes, checksum: 381a1335d5939064077dc11e2843276f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-25 / Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta uma pesquisa qualitativa sobre a questão da intensificação do trabalho docente a partir do exame das principais intervenções relacionadas ao trabalho dos docentes inseridos no Programa Escola Integral, proposto pela atual gestão da Secretaria de Educação do Estado de São Paulo (Governo de Geraldo Alckmin do PSDB). A análise realizada tem como recorte a questão de gênero, partindo do pressuposto de que as vivências temporais das mulheres se multiplicam entre o trabalho doméstico e profissional. Foi realizada revisão bibliográfica sobre a relação dialética entre a opressão e a exploração na sociedade capitalista, o debate sobre a divisão sexual do trabalho e o uso do tempo das mulheres. E, de modo a aproximar de nosso objeto de pesquisa, também discutimos a questão da feminização do magistério, a intensificação e perda da autonomia do trabalho do professor no contexto das transformações nos processos de organização do trabalho ao longo do século XX e as emergências das políticas neoliberais na educação de modo a explicitar sua especificidade com a totalidade social. Esta revisão bibliográfica serviu como suporte de análise para os dados empíricos coletados tanto de documentos que normatizam o programa de ensino integral em São Paulo, quanto de depoimentos gravados e transcritos de professoras que trabalharam ou trabalham em escolas do interior do estado que aderem ao programa educacional. O estudo traz uma contribuição quanto aos impactos de uma política educacional de ensino integral e sua realização no cotidiano escolar a partir da vivência dos trabalhadores da educação, bem como frisa a importância de se adotar o recorte de gênero para a reflexão sobre a intensificação do trabalho docente. Concluímos que a política educacional não valoriza o trabalho dos professores das escolas integrais do estado, sendo a bonificação e as promessas de melhores condições de trabalho e de jornada integral em uma única escola um mecanismo de sedução para justificar um processo de trabalho cada vez mais intensificado. Nosso trabalho demonstra as consequências da realização de uma política pública sobre a condição de vida das mulheres, questão deixada de lado na formulação da política educacional, pois a intensificação do trabalho é multiplicada e intercalada com as responsabilidades profissionais e familiares das professoras. / This work presents a qualitative research about the intensification of teaching work, examining the main work-related disturbances on teacher’s activities of those professionals that are inserted on the “Full-time School Program”, a proposition of São Paulo State Education Office (Geraldo Alckmin -PSDB administration). The analysis departs from the gender issue, assuming that women’s experiences are amplified between domestic and professional work. We analysed the current literature on the dialetic relationship between oppression and exploitation on the capitalist society, the debate between gender-based division of labour and women’s time management. Also, in order to get closer to our subject, we also assessed the feminisation of teaching work., its intensification and loss of autonomy, in the context of the organizational changes of the working processes during the 20th century and the emergence of neoliberal policies on Education, to make explicit its specificity with the social totality. This review supports the empiric data analysis collected from documents that standardize the full-time schooling in São Paulo and recorded and transcribed testimonies of teachers that work or worked at countryside schools that participate of this educational program. The study shows the impacts of a full-time educational policy and its accomplishment on daily school-life from the experienced view of education professionals, and also highlights the importance of adopting a gender bias to analyse the labour intensification of teachers. As a whole, we conclude that the educational policy does not prizes the teacher’s work at full-time State schools, being the monetary compensation, promises of better work condition and full-time labour day in a unique school a seductive system that justifies the more and more intense working process. Our analysis shows the consequences of the accomplishment of an educational policy on the life conditions of women, an issue left behind during the elaboration of this policy, since the intensification of work is amplified and intertwined with the professional and personal responsibilities of female teachers.

Stora förändringar har skett på arbetsplatser under de senaste 40 åren.  Arbetsgivare ställer allt högre krav på sina arbetare att täcka upp längre och mer av arbetstiden det vill säga olika delar av dagen, veckan och året. Organisationers ständiga omstrukturering och nedskärning bidrar till underbemanning, vilket ökar arbetsbelastning samt stress på arbetarna som måste vara tillgängliga längre timmar för att klara av arbetskraven. Även att inte enbart arbetsplatsen ställer höga krav på individer, utan familjelivet och särskilt barnomsorg kräver mycket energi och tillgänglighet. Samt genom långa arbetspass så minskar automatiskt tiden och energin till att hinna spendera med familj och barn. Detta bidrar till konflikter mellan arbete-familjelivet. / Major changes have taken place in workplaces over the last 40 years.  Employers are increasingly demanding on their workers to cover up longer and more of working hours, i.e. different parts of the day, week and year. Organisations permanent restructuring and cutbacks contribute to understaffing, which increases workload and stress on the workers who must be available for longer hours to cope with the work requirements. Also that not only the workplace places high demands on individuals, but family life and especially child care requires a lot of energy and availability. As well as through long shifts, the time and energy are automatically reduced to spend with family and children. This contributes to conflict between work-family life.